Grammy’s: 1) K-pop might win at the Grammys for the first time; 2)A new Grammy category honours album covers, and the artists that make them

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Maria Sherman, January 11, 2026

Two things can be true at once. K-pop is an inextricable force in global pop culture, and it has long been undercelebrated at institutions like the Grammys — where K-pop artists have performed but have never taken home a trophy.

That could change at next month’s 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony. Songs released by K-pop artists — or K-pop-adjacent artists, more on that later — have received nominations in the big four categories for the first time. Rosé, perhaps best known as one-fourth of the juggernaut girl group Blackpink, is the first K-pop artist to ever receive a nomination in the record of the year field for “APT.,” her megahit with Grammys’ favorite Bruno Mars.

The song of the year category also features K-pop nominees for the first time. “APT.” will go head-to-head with the fictional girl group HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami from the “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack.

And the girl group Katseye, the brain child of HYBE — the entertainment company behind K-pop sensation BTS and countless other international acts — fashioned in the image of the K-pop idol system, has been nominated for best new artist.

Is this a historic moment for K-pop?

It depends on who you ask.

Areum Jeong, assistant professor of Korean Studies at Arizona State University and author of “K-pop Fandom: Performing Deokhu from the 1990s to Today” says the majority of these nominations strike her more as “a de-territorialized, hybrid idea of K-pop,” instead of a recognition of K-pop.

While Rosé “was recruited and trained under the K-pop system, and while ‘APT.’ does contain some motifs from the Korean drinking game,” Jeong says, “the song does not feel like a localized K-pop production. … Same with Katseye, who was trained and produced under HYBE but marketed more toward Western fans and listeners.”

Jeong says that both “APT.” and Katseye’s “Gabriela” — both of which will go head-to-head with “Golden” in the pop duo/group performance category — “seem less K-pop than other K-pop songs that could have been nominated over the years.”

She argues the same is true for the music of “Kpop Demon Hunters.” “It is very similar to ‘APT.’ in that it takes inspiration and motif from Korean culture,” where “K-pop serves as an idea, a jumping-off point, or a motif, creating alternatives or new possibilities.”

Mathieu Berbiguier, a visiting assistant professor in Korean Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, points out that these nominations differ from past K-pop Grammy nominations because “Golden,” “APT.” and Katseye all feature “a mainstream popular music factor.”

That’s the connection of a massively popular Netflix film (“Kpop Demon Hunters”), a collaboration with Bruno Mars (“APT.”), and Katseye’s international membership and Netflix series (“Pop Star Academy: Katseye”), respectively.

“It tells you that K-pop is not considered as something niche anymore,” he says. “Now, when we think about pop music in general, we also think of K-pop as part of it.”

Bernie Cho, industry expert and president of the South Korean agency, the DFSB Kollective, agrees that there is an international, mainstream appeal to the nominees.

“All the nominees represent a sort of post-idol K-pop, in the sense that Rosé, the three ladies of HUNTR/X and Katseye represent the globalized version of K-pop, where the ‘K’ is very much there, but some people might argue it’s silent. The songs are not necessarily for Korea, by Korea, from Korea, just kind of beyond Korea,” he says. “It’s a celebration and testament to how diverse and dynamic K-pop has become.”

Why are these acts being recognized now?

“For years, the Recording Academy has snubbed K-pop acts that have set record-breaking standards, such as BTS, Seventeen and Stray Kids,” argues Jeong. “I think one of the main reasons is that the Western world is still so resistant to non-English lyrics.”

“It does not surprise me that ‘APT.’ and Katseye’s music, which mainly contain English lyrics and seem less K-pop, were nominated,” she continues.

Berbiguier adds that “is a reflection of K-pop nowadays, like, trends: the fact that there’s less and less Korean and more and more English.”

There may be an additional factor at play. Tamar Herman, a music journalist and author of the “Notes on K-pop” newsletter, says many critics and industry voices found 2025 to be a lackluster year for new pop music in the U.S. — a fact that was all but confirmed in Luminate’s 2025 Mid-Year Report, which found that streams of new music had slowed compared to the year prior, potentially due to a dearth of megahits dominating the charts.

“Yes, it’s a big moment for K-pop, but it is so overdue, these recognitions are more of a sign of how poorly the music industry in the U.S. did this year that we’re looking externally,” she says.

She argues that acknowledgment of Korean entertainment from U.S. entertainment industries is more symbolic of U.S. cultural dominance slipping than “K-pop being really good, because K-pop has been really good for a really long time,” she says. “This is all recognition of just global storytelling improvement, global taste-making improvement.”

“I don’t want to diminish it,” she adds. “These are all universally friendly, accessible, good pop songs.”

And if they weren’t, they wouldn’t connect.

“It’s very obvious that they’re not just performers. They’re artists. They’re singers. They’re songwriters,” says Cho.

Will a K-pop artist win a Grammy for the first time this year?

The jury is still out.

“I think it’s not even a matter of if or when. It’s going to be who and how many,” says Cho.

Others are less committal. “It’s hard to predict,” says Berbiguier. “For me, it’s more possible that ‘Golden’ gets one.”

“Yes and no,” offers Herman. For her, it depends on an evolving and fluid definition of K-pop. After all, HUNTR/X is a fictional girl group from an animated film that did not debut through the K-pop music industry system. Would a victory for their song “Golden” mean a victory of K-pop? That’s a matter of opinion.

2) A new Grammy category honours album covers, and the artists that make them

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Elise Ryan, January 9, 2026

When it came time to decide the cover image for Wet Leg’s sophomore album, the British indie rock band packed items that might provide inspiration — velvet worms sewn by guitarist Hester Chambers, an oversized head of hair from a music video shoot, lizard-like gloves — and headed to an Airbnb.

“I wanted it to be something that was both super girly and feminine, but then at the same time, just totally repulsive,” said lead singer Rhian Teasdale, who art-directed the Moisturizer cover with Iris Luz and Lava La Rue. “That juxtaposition, I don’t know, it just creates something that’s evocative.”

The final image, inspired by a photo from that weekend, earned Teasdale, Luz and La Rue a Grammy nomination for best album cover — a category that will be awarded this year for the first time in over 50 years.

The other evocative covers nominated are Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia, Perfume Genius’ Glory and Djo’s The Crux. The award goes to the project’s art directors: This year, the recording artists are included as nominees in all cases except for Glory.

In recent years, covers had been assessed as part of the best recording package category, which considers all physical materials and images. The package for Brat, with its pop culture-infiltrating green, earned Charli XCX, Brent David Freaney and Imogene Strauss a Grammy last year.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. told Grammy.com the split is an effort to recognize the impact of cover art in the digital age. It also aligns with the academy’s goal to recognize more of the artists that shape music, Mason said.

For the creative teams, the revived award amplifies what goes into building the visual worlds of music. “When a cover in a campaign hits right,” said photographer Neil Krug, nominated for The Crux, “it’s part of the language and the fabric of what makes a great record a great record.”

Capturing an energy

The defining portrait of Chromakopia — a monochrome close-up of Tyler, face concealed by a mask — was the last shot captured. Luis “Panch” Perez, the director of photography, said the expression in Tyler’s eyes stood out.

Getting there, he said, required tapping into a shared “unspoken language,” built by pulling references for the project’s surrealist, old Hollywood aesthetic — and by years of collaboration. “Tyler knows exactly how to move his body, he’s so well in control of that. I just have to be ready for whatever he’s going to do in front of the lens,” Perez said.

Perfume Genius worked with art directors Cody Critcheloe and Andrew J.S. on the cover for Glory. He splays on a patchwork carpet inside a dark, homey interior, his stiletto boots extending toward a bright window. Colorful cords snake across the floor like microphone cords onstage.

He said the image reflects the push and pull he found himself exploring while writing the album: the comfort and avoidance of an introverted, private life, versus the confidence required of his “maximal” public-facing persona: “How do I have each of those things season my life?”

The goal wasn’t to capture a specific scene, or choreography. “It was mostly about an energy,” said Critcheloe, who photographed the cover.

“People have said to both of us that they can’t figure out what the aesthetic of the album cover is,” he added. “That’s the best thing to hear.”

The creature-like version of Teasdale that appears on Wet Leg’s Moisturizer cover — squatting, hands outstretched, eerie grin trained toward the camera — is also meant to evoke friction. “The album explores themes of love and longing. But also, there are a couple moments on the album that are so, you know, just feral,” she said.

Crafting, casting and styling a world

The pivotal setting of The Crux — the third album by Djo, the musical moniker for actor Joe Keery — was a fictional hotel on the Brooklyn-inspired section of the Paramount Studios backlot.

Krug, Djo and collaborator Jake Hirshland looked at dense scenes, like Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film Rear Window (also shot on a Paramount Studios lot), for inspiration. They considered locations in (the real) New York and Atlanta, where the artist was filming Stranger Things before locking the lot in.

Next came casting the characters that make up the scene. “Anything that we could come up with, we were just like throwing it at the canvas,” Krug said. A couple kiss in a window. A man fights a parking ticket in the foreground. Djo is seen only from the back, dangling from a window in a white suit.

Art director William Wesley II oversaw production details, including designing the neon sign that bears the album’s name — an homage to iconic hotels like the Chateau Marmont. “Everything is intentional,” he said. “It’s really a sum of its parts and it’s the sum of many people’s contributions.”

A pair of white plastic chairs are the only props on the cover of Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which translates to “I should have taken more photos.” Art directed by Bad Bunny himself, the image by Puerto Rican photographer Eric Rojas also features plantain trees — a symbol of the island, but also of the Caribbean and Latin America overall. There is a nostalgia to the simple combination — conjuring a day at the beach, or a backyard gathering — that also mirrors the album’s diasporic, history-making, storytelling.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos and Chromakopia are also nominated for album of the year.

What makes a cover Grammy-eligible?

Official Grammy rules say albums do not need to exist physically to be considered in this category — a key point in differentiating the award from its package counterpart.

This year’s nominees, however, are all available on vinyl or CD. Krug, who has worked on covers for Lana Del Rey and Tame Impala, said the vinyl presentation is often the first point discussed.

“When you have the physical vinyls in your home or your apartment, that stuff lives with you. It’s out in your space, whether you’re having a good day or a bad day, you’re getting married or breaking up with whomever,” Krug said. “There’s this rediscovery of the art form.”

Voters must consider the cover’s creativity and design, alongside the illustration, photography or graphic elements. Trophies go to the winning art directors, and certificates to designers, illustrators or photographers, if applicable.

In a sign of the growing pains of a new category, this year’s list of nominees saw edits ahead of the voting window’s opening — a process not uncommon in other categories with multiple nominees. Djo, Krug, Hirshland and Taylor Vandergrift were added alongside Wesley for The Crux; Perez and photographer Shaun Llewellyn were removed for Chromakopia, replaced by just Tyler. Luz and La Rue joined Teasdale for Moisturizer, while several others — including the rest of the band — were removed.

“I was super surprised and really excited because I wasn’t aware that it was a category,” Critcheloe said of his nomination. “I love the idea of making things that are strange and subversive and irreverent, and having an audience that is bigger than it’s supposed to be.”